Free Press Staff Writer

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Jeannette Maxfield, the 23-year-old woman charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing death of her 49-year-old boyfriend in Hyde Park, will remain held without bail, a judge ruled Friday.

The seven-page decision by Judge Timothy Tomasi came one day after state prosecutors filed evidence with the court indicating Maxfield told another person hours before the Feb. 17 stabbing of Christopher Cafferky that she wanted to kill someone.

“The judge decided the evidence of guilt is great and that she will continue to be held without bail,” Kathy Hobart, clerk for Vermont Superior Court in Hyde Park, said Friday afternoon.

David Sleigh, Maxfield’s defense lawyer, and Lamoille County State’s Attorney Joel Page did not respond to requests for comment. The Burlington Free Press was unable to obtain a copy of Tomasi’s ruling Friday afternoon.

Sleigh had argued at a Thursday hearing before Tomasi that the evidence against Maxfield was too weak for her to be ineligible for bail.

Sleigh also cited audio recordings of police conversations the night of the stabbing during which the officers discussed the possibility Cafferky killed himself, given the nature of the stab wound and suicidal remarks he had made recently.

According to police affidavits, Maxfield claimed she passed out on a couch at Cafferky’s home after drinking heavily earlier in the day and woke up to find him dead on the floor and herself covered in blood.

Maxfield has not confessed to the crime but did tell police she “assumed” she killed Cafferky because no one else was in the house at the time. She has pleaded not guilty and faces 20 years to life in prison if convicted.

She also told police she has struggled with mental-health problems and was hospitalized last fall at the Brattleboro Retreat, a psychiatric care facility.

Among the evidence prosecutors presented to Tomasi on Thursday was a sworn statement from a person Maxfield had been drinking with on the afternoon before the slaying.

According to the statement, Maxfield claimed she wanted to kill someone and eat the person. Tomasi was also given a copy of a text message Maxfield sent to an ex-boyfriend on Feb. 2 that said she loved him but wanted him dead.